Canucks and Beyond

Entries with the tag: minnesota wild

Vancouver Canucks defenceman Willie Mitchell was unable to attend the funeral of young teammate Luc Bourdon in Shippagan, N.B. earlier this week because he was in Toronto to begin proceedings on a grievance hearing with his old club, the Minnesota Wild.

Mitchell, of Port McNeill, B.C., claims the Wild owes him his $1.775-million (U.S.) salary from the 2004-05 lockout because he suffered a neck injury while playing for Canada’s gold-medal winning entry at the 2004 IIHF world championship. He spent the lockout rehabbing his ailment.

I wasn’t aware of this. Wasn’t there another player who sued—and won—his salary for that season based on an injury prior to the actual lockout? It seems to me there was, but I can’t remember who…

Note: as someone just pointed out to me, ‘suing’ is probably the wrong word—he’s filed a formal “grievance.” Anyway, you get the point.

With Todd Bertuzzi playing in Vancouver for the first time since he left the team, the game tomorrow night is far less about Vancouver being tested by the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks, and far more about the return of the big guy.

“There’s no question it’s going to be weird for me, because I’ve never played against all the guys at once. Of course I did when I was (with the New York Islanders), but the team was so different and it’s so long ago it’s hard to remember and I don’t recall what it was like. So there’s no doubt it’s going to be different, hard to handle in some ways.”

But first, about the Oilers. The dark powers of boys named Alice (shootout specialist extraordinaire) and his partner the WhoreCough, plus a temporarily functioning powerplay, was all it took to give Edmonton their second s/o win over Vancouver in a week. But neither loss should devastate a Canucks fan—great games, right? (Although Tony Gallagher had a serious difference of opinion on that subject a few days ago—but I’ll worry about agreeing with Gallagher when the earth shifts on its rotational axis…)

Anyway, with all the fuss from Derek Boogaard, threatening retaliation on Markus Naslund or the Sedins tonight, there’s a lot of posturing going on. And I like posturing, my favorite part so far being this promotional poster for the game, found in the Pioneer Press today:

The Canucks started Friday’s game like they had just left the set of Pimp My Hockey Team.

Suddenly, all the nagging flaws, the worrisome blemishes and the inadequacies that had them mired in a mediocre start to the season were scrubbed clean.

In their place was a souped-up, turbo-charged team that looked like a sleek sports car—complete with tinted windows and halogen headlights. It was enough to blow the doors off a tired, unmotivated Minnesota Wild team before the Wild even got out of the blocks.

It was a great performance, but now for the not-so-fun stuff: Should someone get suspended? After a night of “pimping” a couple of guys might deserve some jail time.